Table Turnover Rate
Also called: table turnover, seat turnover
What is Table Turnover Rate?
Table turnover rate is how many parties a table seats during a service period. A table used three times over a dinner service has a turnover of three, and turnover multiplied by average cover gives the revenue that table produced.
Why Table Turnover Rate matters
Turnover is how a restaurant grows revenue without adding a single seat. Cutting fifteen minutes from an average dinner sitting can add a whole extra turn on the busiest tables.
Table Turnover Rate formula
Table turnover rate = Parties served ÷ Number of tables
Measured per service period, since lunch and dinner behave differently.
How Table Turnover Rate works in practice
Break the sitting into stages — seating, ordering, kitchen, payment — and time each. The bottleneck is usually payment and order-taking rather than the kitchen, which is why QR ordering and quick UPI settlement move the number most.
Worked example
Forty tables serving 96 parties over dinner is a turnover of 2.4; adding half a turn at a ₹900 average cover is about ₹18,000 a night.
Frequently asked questions
Only when it is rushed at the table. Most of the time saved comes from waiting, not from eating.